


Splitting Images

by brunettachoppa687, TTICSY (phantomofthefandoms)



Series: The Things I Could Show You [21]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Spectra really should be her own warning, but its just an illusion, its not real
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-11
Updated: 2015-05-11
Packaged: 2018-03-30 03:19:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3920986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brunettachoppa687/pseuds/brunettachoppa687, https://archiveofourown.org/users/phantomofthefandoms/pseuds/TTICSY
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Danny finds a young ghost trapped in his new lockers mirror, he intends to do everything he can to free him.  But even he wasn't prepared for what exactly had the kid trapped there...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> PLEASE READ!!
> 
> Ok, just a heads up, there are a few triggering elements here. Bullying, name calling, referenced suicide and death, and referenced rape/non-con. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

It had been an insane morning at Casper High for Danny.  After early morning training with Vlad, he’d grabbed a cup of coffee to last him the morning at school only to spill it on his crotch when Dash bumped into him, and then three consecutive ghost attacks – like mosquito bites and just as annoying – had Danny seething.  Especially since one of them had the nasty habit of ripping doors off of hinges and tossing them at Phantom even though he had already gone intangible… but either way, one of those unfortunate doors had been the one to Danny’s locker.

And now, he was just walking out of the office – scrubbing at his stained crotch with a wet paper towel with one hand and his new locker assignment number in the other.  He only had free time during lunch to move everything in.  Great, now he was gonna have to skip lunch today… again.

“724…  724, where in the world–oh.”

Danny looked up at his newly assigned locker, a small box of his things tucked under one arm.  He raised a brow at the state the locker was in, noticing the rust and neglect.  Did no one use this locker?  Ever?

He shrugged it off and quickly unlocked it, starting to carefully organize his belongings inside.  He paused when his own reflection blinked back at him from within.  “Huh?”

He reached in and felt the round, smooth surface.  “A mirror?  Did a student leave this behind?” he murmured to himself.

“Talking to yourself again, FenTURD~?”

Danny sighed, turning his back to the mirror and locker.  “Something I can help you with, Dash?” he muttered.

The quarterback and a few of his buddies – noticeably, Kwan was missing this time around – just laughed as Dash moved to get up in Danny’s face.  “Just came by to give you a new locker warming present.”

He raised a cup and an eyebrow.  “Emphasis on the WARM!”

Danny couldn’t help the pained squeal that left his mouth as Dash threw hot coffee right in his face.  The burning liquid dripped down his hair and face, staining his white shirt.  Luckily it didn’t seriously hurt him, but the shock and humiliation was enough…

The boys laughed.  “Look freak, now you match!”  Dash crowed as he gestured to the wet spot still visible on his pants.  

Danny’s face burned red in mortification as he watched them leave, still cackling like hyenas.  “DARN it…”  he moaned, looking down at the state he was in.

Not once had he noticed the cold breath leaking from his lips, or the fact the mirror in his locker had been glowing since he first touched it…

“BUUUUUULLIEEEEES…”

A ghastly, echoing voice bounced around the hall.

Danny jumped in place, startled.  “What the–?”

“BUUUUUULLIIIEEEEEESSSSSSS!!”

The voice rose in volume, until it was a shriek in Danny’s ears.  He winced, covering them in a motion that almost made him miss the spectral green light that poured from the mirror – streaking across the hallway towards Dash and his buddies.  Suddenly, a locker door opened just in time for Dash to smack into it nose-first.

“Ow!” the blonde yelped.  His hand went up to his face, eyes squinting at the locker.  “What?”

SLAM!

The locker door closed HARD on Dash, trapping his blockish head inside the locker.  He squealed and tugged, trying to get out; the rest of his buddies fled, crying out “run!” and “it’s a ghost!”  Eventually, Dash managed to pry his head out of the hungry locker door and haul tail out of there.

Despite the situation, Danny had to laugh a bit.  “At least I’m not the only one with a stain on my crotch now~” he chuckled.

Danny looked around, trying to spot whatever specter seemed to be around.  “Um, hi?  As much as I appreciate that, he could have gotten seriously hurt, so tone it down it bit?  Okay?”

He turned in full circle, trying to find the source.  “Who are you anyway?” he asked the air.  “I didn’t think there was anyone haunting the school since the lunch lady… Well, besides me of course…”

There was a moment of silence… and then, his locker door slammed even wider.  

CRASH!

Danny yelped and whirled.

The mirror glimmered inside Locker 724 – as the same ghostly tone echoed.  “Y-You…?”

As if looking into a window pane, a young face came into view.  It was a boy.  A scrawny teen of fourteen or so, he was pimpled, freckled, and pockmarked with acne scars, big grey eyes staring back at Danny from the other side of the mirror.  His entire body was colored in black-and-white, like his visage had been cut from 1950’s yearbook.  He wore thick, black-rimmed glasses, a neat little bow tie, and his teeth stuck out completely over his bottom lip.  His choppy black hair fit him like a helmet.

“Y-You can hear me?!” the ghost exclaimed.

Danny blinked, surprised.  The mirror…?  Vlad had told him before that some ghosts were linked or tied to objects they held dear while they were living, like how Daalahmon had been tied close to his scepter and rumored “Fright Knight” to his sword.  Vlad had called them “soul items,” and explained how they could be very powerful, and often unstable.  But he had never seen or heard of someone being INSIDE their soul item…  Strange…

“Y-yeah, I can hear you!  Hi!”  Danny came closer to the locker, intrigued.  “My name’s Danny, what’s yours?”

“S-Sidney.”

Eyes still wide with disbelief, Sidney sniffed past his runny nose.  “Sidney Poindexter.”

“Hi, Sidney, nice to meet you,” Danny said pleasantly, smiling.  He didn’t get a bad feeling at all from this ghost, just a hint of wariness and… maybe loneliness?

“What are you doing in there, Sidney?”  he asked, a little concerned for the younger ghost boy.  “How long have you been in this locker?”

Sidney blinked.  “I… I’m not sure, really,” he admitted, looking almost confused..

As he reached up to rub his head, Danny noticed a row of shallow white scars on the ghost’s thin wrist.  

“A… A long time, I guess…”

Danny frowned, mind easily jumping to certain conclusions and grasping the whole picture.  That… That was just depressing… And completely UNFAIR.

Danny came closer, reaching out to touch the mirror again.  All he felt was the cold smoothness of before, tinged with a mild electric shock of energy.  His brows furrowed as he drew his hand back.  “Well, that’s no good… Can you get out?  Or are you trapped?”

Sidney pressed both palms against the inside of the mirror.  “I’ve been trying to get out of here ever since I got here!” he told Danny, eyes wide and pleading.  “I’m trapped!  Please, can you help me?!”

“Of course–!”

RIIIING!

Danny looked up in dismay as the class bell rang throughout the halls.  Lunch was over, and Danny couldn’t afford to skip the next class, Lancer was handing back their exams…

He looked back at Sidney, smiling reassuringly.  “I have to go to class, but just sit tight, okay?” he said.  “School ends in two more hours, I’ll be back!  I promise!”

The little black-and-white ghost stared back at him imploringly.  “You do?  Really?”

Danny felt his heart constrict for the younger ghost.  “Promise.  I’ll be back as soon as I can Sidney, okay?”

“Okay…”

Sidney let his hands slide off the mirror, still staring at Danny like he was a miracle sent just for him.  “Haha, it’s not like I’m going anywhere…” he laughed weakly, shrugging.

Danny returned the smile, grabbed his text book, and then carefully shut the locker door with one last goodbye and promise to return.  He ended up having to run to class to get there in time, and had to sit through it all in cold, wet clothes.  Perfect.

But throughout the entire class period, he couldn’t take his mind off of the ghost boy, Sidney, trapped inside his locker.  

He had to figure out how to free him.  The question was, how…?

Two hours later and Danny quickly made his way back to his locker.  He hovered around for a moment, waiting for everyone to finish what they were doing nearby before finally, the hall cleared.  He opened the locker, eyes immediately searching out the little mirror.

“Sidney?  Sidney, are you there?”

Immediately, the small ghost’s face came into view.  His overbite gleamed in a smile.  “You came back!” he exclaimed.  “You said you would come back and you came!  Wow, man, you sure are swell!”

Danny laughed.  “Well, I’ve never been called that before, but thanks!”  

He frowned again, thinking.  “We gotta figure out a way to get you out… Do you know WHY you’re in the mirror?” he asked.  “And is it just the mirror or the entire locker?  I wasn’t sure before…”

Sidney thought for a minute, half-bouncing on his heels.  “Um… gee willickers, Danny, I don’t know,” he admitted.  “It could be both!  But I do know – although I can’t tell you exactly HOW I know, hmmm – anyway, if the mirror were smashed, I wouldn’t be able to interact with your world anymore.”

Danny shook his head, sighing.  “Well, we can’t have that.  I want to get you OUT, not trap you permanently.”

He rubbed his chin for a second, then smiled as an idea struck him.  “I know!  Let’s test to see if you’re just linked to the mirror,” he said.  “If it’s just the mirror, then I should be able to take it out, right?”

Without waiting for an answer, Danny reached for the small mirror.  His slim fingers felt all along the edges and finally, after a little maneuvering, he managed to pry it from the rusty and grimy back wall.  

He pulled it out with a cry of triumph.  “Hey, look at that!  You’re not in the locker anymore, Sidney!  I call this progress~”

“Skip diddly dee, man!” the ghost exclaimed happily.  “That’s excellent-tay!  Now what?”

Danny, looking far more confident than before, scooped up his backpack and held the mirror close.  “Now, we go see a ghost about a ghost issue~”

With that, Danny transformed and flew out of the school, heading straight for Vlad’s manor.  The man would know SOMETHING, right?


	2. Chapter Two

Danny fazed through the walls till he reached Vlad’s study, knowing the man would be there with paper work at this hour.  He transformed back and put his bag and the mirror down on the couch nearby.  “Wait here, I’m gonna go ask him.”

He came up to the desk, nearly bouncing with energy and questions.  “Hey, Vlad–?”

Vlad looked up at him, then quickly glanced back at his piles of papers and business folders that crowded his desk.  “Badger, I would love to help you, you know I really would,” he replied shortly.  “But I am absolutely SWAMPED.  But unless this is a matter of life and death or it’s some kind of ghost issue, go look in the library section.  I’m sure there’s something that’ll help you there.”  

Danny blinked, taking in his mentor’s near frazzled appearance and suddenly felt guilty for interrupting him.  Dang, he had forgotten that Vlad had said they wouldn’t do training tonight due to his work.  

He bit his lip, then nodded.  “I’ll be in the library, no worries.”

He quickly grabbed his bag and the mirror before leaving the room.  He passed Emma on the way and gave her a small order to make SURE Vlad ate something later, because he was certain the man had skipped lunch.  He also asked for a small meal to be brought later to the library as well, before leaving her to her duties.  He placed his backpack over a nearby chair, then put the mirror on the study table.

“Sorry for the wait, Sidney,” Danny apologized.  “I’m gonna look and see if I can’t find an answer in here, okay?  Can you give me more information on where you are?  Or any ideas at all?”

Sidney blinked, looking around.  “Well, I’m in Casper High.  Always have been,” he replied, rubbing his head again.  “Is it funny that I can’t remember anywhere other than this place?”

Danny blinked, startled.  “You’re in Casper High?  You mean, on the other side of the mirror?”

“Yeah!”

Sidney took the mirror out of his locker and pointed it up at a banner hanging in the hallway.  “Class of 55,” he read from it, then turned it back to himself.  “It’s been that way for as long as I can remember.”

Danny balked.  “Sidney…” he whispered.  “That was over 50 years ago…”

“What?!  You’re pullin’ my leg!”

Danny stood up and went over to the computer Vlad had in the library.  He turned the screen on, and aimed the mirror towards the bottom right corner, where the clock and date were.  “It’s 2010, Sidney,” he murmured.  “You’ve been in that mirror for over 50 years… You…”

Danny winced, looking down at the mirror in sympathy.  “You’ve been DEAD for over 50 years…”

Silence was all he heard from the mirror.  He gently set it down beside him and pulled up the web browser, busying himself while Sidney absorbed the new information.  He knew this had to be big shock to the younger boy, and he hated putting him through this, but he wanted to help him!

He googled Amity Park Casper High, class of 1955…

What he got for his search… had him blanching the color of old paper.

‘1955, CASPER HIGH STUDENT SUICIDE.’

The halfa boy gulped, eyes wide and face stricken.  Silently, he went on to read the article below:  ‘Sidney Eugene Poindexter, a sophomore at Casper High School in Amity Park, Illinois, committed suicide this past April by jumping off the roof of the school.  Interviews with his peers and teachers reveal that cruel treatment by fellow students may have been the cause of the emotional duress that led to his suicide.  ‘I don’t understand why he didn’t have more friends,’ the nurse told our reporters.  ‘He always seemed like such an eighteen-karat kid.’

“Danny?”

Sidney’s voice cut through the haze of old text and shock.  Danny looked down at the mirror, seeing the younger boy’s distressed face.  This… this was TERRIBLE.  Just the fact that Sidney couldn’t readily recall any of this made it even worse; when ghosts forgot how they died, it was almost always either extremely unexpected or extremely traumatic.  Or both.  He hated adding to this, but they NEEDED Sidney to remember….

“Sidney, do you… Do you remember how you died?” Danny murmured.

Sidney shook his head, brows furrowed.  “No.  No, I…”

He clutched at his head, groaning.  “Ahhh… my head hurts…!” he muttered.  “I don’t know!  I’ve just been living this morning for a long time!!  I’m here, I get picked on a few times, I go to the nurse’s office and then OWWWWW…!!”

Sidney had to hurriedly put the mirror down, grabbing his pulsing head with both his hands and squatting down on the floor.  “I can’t–!”

“Sidney?!”  Danny picked up the mirror, looking at the kid worriedly.  “It’s okay, take a deep breath!  In and out, in and out, thats it…”

He waited till Sidney calmed back down before talking again.  “It’s okay, we’re making good progress.  You can’t remember anything after the nurse’s office right?”

He started clicking away, pulling up the school staff from that year.  He frowned, when he found no name listed for the school nurse.  “That’s odd…”

He searched everywhere he could, on the school site itself, on news sites and through photos…  He found nothing.  For crying out loud, the newspaper article said it had INTERVIEWED the nurse!  There had to have been a name.

“Sidney, is the nurse still in the school or is it just the office now?” Danny asked.  “Can you go there for me?”

Sidney picked up the mirror again.  “S-Sure…” he murmured, still rubbing his head.  “I’m sorry if my hearing’s not too good, skipper, my ears are ringing somethin’ terrible…!”

Danny waited patiently, watching the black and white school bob along with the ghost’s steps as he walked down the hallway.  More than once, he jumped when someone yelled a cruel name or an insult or both at Sidney.  Twice, he was tripped and laughed at; the ghost had to scramble to protect the mirror from being shattered by the impact.  “S-Sorry ‘bout all this…”

Sidney swallowed, tears brimming as he continued on his way.  “This’s normal, don’t worry…”

“FREAK!”

“POINDEXTER!”

“AWWWW, IS THE LITTLE LOSER CRYING?!”

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!  HE IS!  HE’S REALLY CRYING!”

Lines of people – everyone in this colorless limbo – pointed and laughed at the scrawny boy as he walked down the hall.  Danny saw Sidney shrink in on himself, shoulders hunched and face falling further and further, sniffing as he tried to hold back tears… just trying to make himself smaller, just trying to get there…

“You’re not a freak.”  Danny whispered, words hushed and soft, but genuine.  “You’re not a loser, not a freak.  Don’t let what others say destroy you, don’t let them win.”

Sidney coughed.  “Thanks, man…” he murmured thickly, swallowing back the lump in his throat.

“I’m serious…”  

Danny swallowed a little, looking around to make doubly sure they were alone before he spoke again.  “Do I look like a freak to you Sidney?” he asked.  I’ve been called that, and much worse…  But I know it’s not true.  I know I’m not weak, or a freak, or a loser…”  

He hesitated, before continuing.   “I’m not… I’m not a whore, or a slut…”

Danny shook his head, refocusing, and looked back at Sidney, smiling at him kindly.  “We are different and special, and unique, and they FEAR that!” he told him.  “Keep your head high Sidney…  For all of us…”

Sidney wiped his nose on his arm, watery grey eyes looking at Danny through the mirror.  “Y…You were bullied, too?” he asked as he walked up to the nurse’s office.

Then suddenly, the ghost stopped dead in his tracks – shaking like a leaf.

“Yeah I–Sidney?”  Danny cut himself off when he noticed the boy’s odd behavior.  He watched his face, concerned.  “Sidney, what’s wrong?”

Sidney’s wide grey eyes contracted at the sight of the nurse’s office.  His hands were shaking so bad he almost dropped the mirror.

“I… I don’t want to go in there, Danny…!” he whispered.

Unbeknownst to his benefactor, in Sidney’s vision, the threshold of the nurse’s office roiled with a dark, boiling malice… streaming into the hallway so cold and evil that the scrawny ghost was rooted to the spot.  “Something’s in there!” Sidney squeaked.  “SHE’S in there…!  I don’t want to go in there…!!”

Danny was speechless as he took in the younger boy’s expression.  He looked nearly MINDLESS with fear and torment, other emotions bleeding in here and there.  The look in his eyes…

Was hauntingly familiar…

“Sidney…”  He whispered, unknowingly trying to keep himself quiet and calm.  “Move the mirror…  Show me the office.”

Sidney did as asked, and soon Danny was seeing the black mass.  It moved and coiled, seeming to cling to all surfaces of the room within.  He shuddered, eyes widening as he took in the sight of the dark, heavy shadows, taking note of the strange purple tint it had…

_(at by Danny~)_

“Sidney…” Danny whispered, trying to stay calm.  “What was the school nurse’s name…”

“I-I don’t k-k-know, it was…!” the ghost began to panic, rubbing his forehead.  His head HURT!  Then, suddenly, Sidney’s eyes widened, memories flashing behind his terrified eyes.  “…It was…” he shuddered.  Like the name itself caused him pain.  

He shivered one last time… then breathed it in a haunted, echoing whisper…

“It was… Spectra…  Penelope Spectra.”

Danny didn’t know when his own hands started shaking.  “Get away from the door, Sidney!” he ordered.  “Get as far away from the office as you can!  Go!”

Danny had to set the mirror down, a hand coming up to run through his hair as he tried to calm himself.  Dammit…!  How many lives had that woman ruined?!

At least he had a clearer picture of what had happened…

He stood, leaving the mirror and the computer as they were, and moved to find any books that might be able to help him.  He returned with an armful and slapped open a promising-looking book.  Wow, that was lucky!  He’d found just the thing he was looking for!  

“Okay, I found something!” he said.  “I think my mentor was looking into something similar, cause this is his handwriting in the margin. ‘A great trauma or tragedy, can cause a spirit to attach themselves to something they held dear while they lived.  Depending on their state of mind when they died, they could simply be sleeping, or trapped in a world of their own creation.  This world could either be their heaven…’”

He trailed off – his voice falling to a whisper.  “Or their hell…”  Danny finished, looking devastated.  

He looked up.  “Sidney… You’re trapped in a loop, a nightmare of your own creation.  You’re reliving the day you died – WHY HAVEN’T YOU MOVED?!”

“W-What do you mean, ‘re-live’?!” Sidney yelped.  His eyes were still fixed on the boiling black aura that seemed to reach for him, even as he tried to back away from it.  “A-And what d-does that h-h-have to d-do with THAT TH-THING?!”

Danny winced, obviously not wanting to go into detail, but knowing he had to for Sidney’s benefit.  

“Last year, a ghost came to my school disguised as the guidance councilor.  She fed off of people’s depression and misery, making them… worse.”

He sighed, rubbing a hand over his eyes.  “She got her claws into me, but Vlad… He saved me, just in time.  I was too weak to fight her, even though I figured out what she was doing.  She nearly…”

He shook his head, huffing. “Her name was Penelope Spectra, and it seems that was not the first time she had been to Casper High…”


	3. Chapter Three

“Her name was Penelope Spectra, and it seems that was not the first time she had been to Casper High…”

//Come to me, poor little wretch~// cooed a harsh, slithering voice.

The black tendrils slowly reached out for the ghost.  Suddenly so tiny under the scale of the darkness, Sidney squeaked in terror as he tried to move – and found his feet rooted to the ground.  “H-Help…!”

//I’ll help you~// the shadows cooed. //That’s what Nurse Spectra is here for…//

Sidney’s eyes slowly bled into solid red.  Gently, almost delicately, the tendrils of darkness wrapped around his wrists – raising them – and his ankles.  His head lolled on his neck as the tendrils moved… the great mass of blackness traveling with him down the hall.  His fingers held onto the mirror, only barely.  Up one flight of stairs.  Then another.  The shadow whispered in his ears.  Making him walk forward.  Up towards the roof.

//Think about it~// she cooed.  //How every last person who ever picked on you will react when they hear…//

“SIDNEY!!”  Danny screamed, looking at the mirror wildly.  “SIDNEY, DON’T DO IT!!  LISTEN TO ME!!”

_(messy art by Danny~)_

He got no reply.  His brows furrowed and he GROWLED with rage.  No, he couldn’t let this happen.  Not again!

He didn’t realize it, but his eyes began to glow toxic green, just as the mirror lit up as well.  Between one second and the next, Danny vanished from the library entirely, leaving behind the mirror to clatter on the table, right beside the computer and books…

And he reappeared in the black and white world of Sidney’s nightmare.

He hardly had time to react to the sudden change, but managed to blast the dark mass away from Sidney.  The thing screeched and writhed, backing away and disappearing around the corner.  Danny ran over to where it had dropped Sidney and helped him up, looking over the boy frantically.  

“Are you okay?!”

Sidney gasped for air, blinking away the scarlet.  “D-Danny?!”

He coughed, grasping his head with both hands.  “Ugggh, my head…!  W-Wait, how did you get in here?!” he gasped, staring up at the older boy.  “That’s impossible!!”

Danny started dragging Sidney down the hall, as far away from the stairs and that THING as possible.  “I think I passed through the mirror.  It seemed to respond almost like a portal.  I think your world here is somewhere locked away in the Ghost Zone, we just gotta find a way back out…”

He looked over his shoulder in the direction of the black squirming entity.  “And avoid THAT.”

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

Suddenly, the darkness appeared around the corner, rearing its ugly tentacles at Danny.  //LITTLE WHORE!!// it shrieked.

~*~

“SIDNEY, DON’T DO IT!!  LISTEN TO ME!!”

Vlad nearly jumped out of his skin when Danny downright SCREAMED from the other room.  Throwing down his reading glasses, the older halfa stumbled from his office – blood rushing dizzly from standing up too quickly.  

“Daniel–?!  Oof,” he wheezed as he staggered to one side, then regained his balance and rushed into the other study.  “Badger, what’s–?!”

Immediately, a tiny mirror glowing on the desk caught his attention.  Vlad hurried over to it, squinting into the glass at the frantically shaking images.  He could HEAR Danny’s voice from it, along with another spirit’s… and ANOTHER voice he would LOVE to forget.  Vlad’s eyes glared in the light.  A cursed soul item?  Where did Danny even GET something like this– oh, never mind!

He jogged over to another bookcase and pulled down a loose tome.  The entire shelf moved to one side; Vlad’s secret library.  These were dangerous and powerful books that he didn’t dare to even show Danny yet.

Vlad grabbed a stool and plunked it down, using it to reach the top shelves.  

“There’s got to be something in here…!” he muttered.  “Hang on, Daniel…”

~*~

Danny and Sidney ran through the school, never stopping.  No place seemed really safe, but they seemed to have a better chance as long as they stayed away from the offices and the roof.  Danny had figured out pretty quickly that, whatever this was, it wasn’t actually Spectra herself.  It seemed to be some sort of manifestation of her, and the emotions she caused.  She was pretty much linked to Sidney’s memories… and unfortunately, Danny’s own now that he was there.   

But as long as they were only in places at the school they don’t remember her being in, they should be okay!  She couldn’t seem to go where she had never been… right?!

Danny looked at Sidney, both breathing hard from the run.  His eyes caught sight of the mirror.  “You managed to hold onto it!  That’s good!”  

He turned and looked outside the window at the black-and-grey NOTHING the ghostly version of Casper High floated in.  “Now… How are we going to get OUT?” he muttered to himself.

“With all due respect, Clyde, you probably should have asked me that BEFORE you jumped head first in here WITH me,” Sidney informed him.  He smiled pleasantly.  “And then I would have been able to tell you–”

The scrawny ghost scowled.  “APPARENTLY, I HAVE BEEN TRAPPED IN HERE FOR OVER FIFTY YEARS!  I don’t KNOW!” he barked, pouting at Danny.

Danny winced.  “Yeah, sorry, rhetorical question…”

He held his hand out towards Sidney, still looking a little sheepish, but determined.  “Can I see the mirror?” he asked.  “That’s how I got in here, maybe that’s how we get out?”

The halfa took the mirror carefully from the other ghost, and started studying it.  “There has to be something we missed.  I was somehow able to pass through earlier so how can we reverse–oh…”

Danny suddenly flushed crimson, looking into the mirror.  “U-uh, hi Vlad… Done with the paper work?”

~*~

Vlad scowled down at his lover’s face.  “Only you would get yourself into a situation like this, badger.”

Sidney poked his head into the shot.  

“Who is that?” both he and Vlad asked Danny at the same time.

“And why does such an old guy have such awesome hair?” the scrawny ghost asked further.

“He’s not old!”

“I’m not OLD!”

Danny and Vlad shared a look before Danny cracked up laughing, shaking his head.  “Sidney, this is the man I was telling you about earlier, Vlad Masters.  Vlad, this is Sidney Poindexter…”  

His smile dropped a little.  “Casper High suicide victim of 1955, thanks to our old friend Spectra…”

He moved the mirror around to show Vlad the black and white world they were in.  “I was assigned his old locker today at school, found him trapped in this mirror that was still inside!” he explained quickly.  “I’ve been trying to find a way to get him out and well… here I am.”

~*~

Vlad huffed and ruffled through the pages of a thick, cracked book.  “I swear, where would you be without me… Oh YES, trapped in a soul mirror!” he replied, voice dripping with sarcasm.  He found the page he was looking for and put his thumb on it.  “All right, I can get YOU out of there easily enough but your friend… that’s a whole new can of worms.”  

~*~

SCREEEE…!!

Danny and Sidney shrunk in on themselves at the sound of the shadow’s angry scream – distant, but getting closer.

Danny wrapped an arm around the boy’s shoulder as he turned back to look down at Vlad’s face.  “There has to be SOMETHING we can do Vlad!  I can’t leave him here!”

Suddenly, he squeezed his eyes shut as the gleefully hissed words made their way to the boys ears.  //WHORE… FREAK…//

The boy shivered, fearful, before turning back to the mirror.  “Vlad, PLEASE!”

“Daniel, it’s not that simple!” the older halfa tried to explain.  Sidney whimpered, shrinking back behind Danny for protection as Vlad continued.  “The place you carelessly leapt into is Mr. Poindexter’s personal purgatory.  It was made by his trauma, and his trauma keeps him there!”

//Little SLUT…// came the slithery whisper.

“Well, then, what do we do?!” Danny demanded, goosebumps crawling up his back.

“He has to face the shadow and defeat it himself, badger,” Vlad told him gravely.  “It’s the only way he’ll ever be able to leave that place.”

Danny scowled down at the mirror.  “That THING is part of Spectra!  How is he supposed to…”  

Suddenly, his eyes widened as an idea sprang into his mind.  He looked back at Sidney for a moment, before talking with Vlad again.  “Vlad… is this place kinda like a dream?  I mean, it’s built around Sidney’s memories, his emotions and stuff, right?”

“Well, technically, yes.”

“Then… Then can’t he CHANGE things?”

Sidney looked up at him, startled by the idea.  Danny came forward, eager.  “It’s YOUR world…  You should be able to control it, change it…”

“H-how?”

He gestured to the world around them, even as they heard the shadow of Spectra screech and hiss somewhere down the hall.  “This is your world, you have the power here!  You’re a GHOST now, Sidney!”

His eyes glowed green as he grinned, trying to send his confidence and chaotic nature towards Sidney.  “Act like it!”

The smaller ghost’s eyes widened at the unearthly glow.  “W…What ARE you…?” he whispered.

Danny chuckled.  “Hard to explain, but the short version is I’m half human, half ghost,” he informed him.  “It’s a long, long story and I promise to tell you all about it!  But first…”

He turned to look back towards the screeching mass.  “We gotta break out of here.”

A tiny light appeared in grey eyes.  “B-Break out…?” Sidney whimpered.  His hands fiddled nervously.  “Do you… you think I can…?”

Danny smiled at him.  “I KNOW you can, buddy!”

Sidney blinked dumbly.  

And it was just then that finally, the blackness of Spectra’s power found its way around the corner.  It screeched in fury when it sensed them.  //KEPT BOY!  FREAK!  SLUT!  WORTHLESS WASTES OF FLESH!// the shadows writhed, only seeming to tower higher and higher the closer it came to them.  

Tendrils lashed out, wrapping around Danny’s waist and Sidney’s wrist.  //NO ONE WILL MISS YOU WHEN YOU’RE DEAD!!//

Danny wailed as his vision went pure scarlet.

Vlad’s voice faded into darkness.  //“Badger?!”//


	4. Chapter Four

Everything was black.  Pure black.  

Every muscle and bone in Danny’s body hurt; especially his neck and his tailbone.  His rear end felt like it had been stomped on by an elephant, and his neck felt raw and hot… like skin chafed to bleeding.  

The young man groaned and sat up – but upon opening his eyes, he wished he hadn’t.

He was in Vlad’s bedroom.  Chained to the bedpost without a stitch of clothing on.

Then, a too-familiar voice – generated from Danny’s own memories – spoke.  

“I know it’s less than last time.”

A wad of bills fell into the young halfa’s lap.  Danny recoiled from it in horror… but suddenly a cruel hand had forced his face to the bed, belly pressed down into the comforter.  The rough heat of a man’s body was suddenly up against him.  “But then, you don’t have much of a choice, do you?”

A Vlad with spiteful red eyes and cruel hands tightened his hold.  “My little kept boy~!” he hissed in delight.

Danny’s eyes went wide, pupils constricting at a near PAINFUL rate.  He bucked against the bed, every fiber of his being denying EVERYTHING he saw and heard here.  Not real.  It’s not real.  It’s not real!

“YOU’RE NOT REAL!”

CRASH!

The entire vision shattered like sugar glass, raining powder down into Danny’s trembling subconscious.  The halfa yelped and shook himself mentally, dashing the last of the illusion from his mind as he scrambled back.  But Danny quickly saw that he didn’t need to.

The mass of black energy was screeching – in PAIN this time – as Sidney advanced on it.  The small ghost’s eyes still glared red, but without the influence of Spectra.  With his OWN power.

“You will not harm my buddy, JACK!!” Sidney yelled.  “And I have had ENOUGH OF YOU!”

Criiiiiiiick SNAP!

Danny jumped as a spidery crack shot over the floor and up the wall.  Similar hairline fractures spread out from it.  Grey stone melted.  White walls vaporized into dust.  The last memory of Spectra’s influence shrieked in fury and pain, shrinking by the second, yet still attempted to ensnare Sidney in its tendrils.  The ghost slapped them away and raised his glowing hands.

“YOU WILL NOT BELITTLE ME ANY MORE!” Sidney yelled.  “You BULLY!”

There was a blinding flash of white light.  Shadows were torn to shreds, and the black nothing outside shattered into pieces, and then–!

Danny and Sidney were both sitting on a desk in Vlad’s library.

Danny visibly shuddered, arms wrapped around his middle and face pale.  He gave Sidney a weak smile when the boy looked at him in concern, but he was still a little shaken up by the illusion Spectra’s shadow had cast on him.

“That… was not pleasant…”

He avoided Vlad’s eyes for now, which he could feel watching him like a hawk, and focused instead on his new friend.  His smile grew a little wider as he looked at the younger ghost, seeing a little bit of color in his mostly pale spectral form.

“Sidney… You did it.  You’re FREE.”

Sidney looked down at his translucent hands, flexing them, then blinked around at everything like a man who was seeing the sun for the first time in his life.  Slowly, a look of pure, utter joy spread across his pockmarked face.

“Ha… HAHAHAHAAAAA~!”

Laughing for joy, Sidney threw his hands up in the air, soaring up to the ceiling with the biggest smile Danny had seen on him yet.  “Ah!  This is amazing!  I feel right like kite, Mike!!” he exclaimed.

Vlad crossed his arms, brows raising.  “Not even I speak that era of slang,” he commented, apparently still bitter about the “old man” comment.

Swooping back down, Sidney took Danny’s hand and shook it vigorously.  “Thank you so, so much, buddy!” he enthused.  “I can’t thank you enough!!”

Danny smiled happily, reaching up and drawing the younger ghost into a weary hug.  “That’s what friends are for, buddy…”

Sidney stiffened for a moment – surprised by the hug – then smiled and returned it joyously.

_(art by Vlad~)_

After a second, Danny pulled back with a chuckle, running a hand through his dark locks. “I’m just glad everything worked out…” he said.  “It got a little rough there near the end, huh?”

“It most certainly did!  Are you okay?”

He noticed the questioning looks directed at him from Vlad and cleared his throat, giving Sidney another encouraging smile.  “Yeah, sure… Uh, why don’t you go explore Amity Park?  A lot has changed in 50 or 60 years… Just keep out of sight and don’t cause any trouble, okay?  You know where to find me if you need me, and I’ll be able to find you easily enough.  When you’re ready, I’ll take you to the Ghost Zone, and we’ll find a territory just for you.  Sound good?”

“Territory?  Ghost Zone?”

Sidney blinked, confused by the unfamiliar terms, but then shrugged with a happy buck-toothed smile.  “Eh, why not?  Posalutely absotively~!” he agreed, nodding enthusiastically.  “I look forward to it!”

He gave a little smile and salute to Vlad.  “Thank you, too, old man!” he said, then turned intangible and flew up towards the ceiling.

Vlad’s hackles went straight up.  “You’re older than I AM, you–” he started to retort.

But he was already gone.  The older halfa huffed and folded his arms crossly, pouting and drumming his fingers… then happened to glance at Danny.  

Vlad’s brows furrowed in concern.  “Badger…?”

Danny shook a little from the man’s voice, roughly ripped from his thoughts.  “H-huh?”

He looked up, meeting his older lover’s worried eyes.  He whimpered a little, bottom lip trembling as he allowed the memories of what happened to sink in…

“She did it again…” Danny confessed with difficulty.  “Spectra’s power, she… IT took my memories of you and… TWISTED them…”

A sob made him choke.  “It was HORRIBLE.”

Vlad gasped.  “Oh no…”

He wrapped Danny in his arms as tenderly as he was physically able, burying his face in the younger halfa’s soft black hair.  “I’m so sorry, love…” he whispered.  “If I had known, I–”

Danny shook his head, smaller body still shuddering with small sobs.  “It wasn’t real.  I KNOW it wasn’t real…”

He looked up at Vlad, begging him to understand why this was affecting him so badly.  “But she used your face, your VOICE…  I–!”

His face crumpled slightly, tears gathering in his baby blue eyes and spilling down pale cheeks.  He clung to Vlad like a lifeline, burying his face in the larger man’s chest.

“Just hold me… Please…”

“Of course, love… of course…” Vlad whispered, laying a hand gingerly on the back of Danny’s head.  

For long minutes, they just stood there – swaying gently back and forth, the older halfa murmuring promises of love and devotion, praising Danny for his bravery, his selflessness, his intelligence, his deviousness, his beauty; all the things he loved about him.  And that was quite the laundry list of things. But eventually, he just let his presence and his touch prove his words… holding Danny like someone can only hold their one true love.

After a few moments, Vlad spoke again.  “That was a brave thing you did for that poor child…” he murmured.

Danny smiled softly from where his face was hidden in Vlad’s front.  “It’s what you, or my friends, would have done for me…” he murmured.  “I couldn’t leave him there…  It wasn’t right.”

He finally pulled back and looked up at Vlad with a pale tear stained face, but the tears were drying up and the smile there was soft and genuine.  He looked a lot better, and soon the memory would pass.  He sighed happily, just basking in the larger man’s warmth.

“I did good, right?  I just… I know I should have said something more to you, the moment I knew what was happening in there.  But I had to do SOMETHING…  And I…”

Danny frowned, huffing.  “I just wanted to set him free…  Was it wrong of me?” he thought aloud.  “To get involved?”

“No, badger, you did what was right,” Vlad told him with an amused smile, stroking his hair.  “Now, you certainly did something extremely RECKLESS, and foolish by any other standards, but you did what was right.  And more often than not those things tend to be one and the same~”

Danny chuckled, nuzzling Vlad affectionately.  “You like my recklessness, don’t lie~”

The older halfa chuckled, kissing Danny’s forehead.  “You know me too well~”

With a sigh, Danny finally pulled away from the embrace and wiped his his eyes.  He grinned.  “Well, I better go find Sidney and make sure he hasn’t caused too much trouble.  I doubt he knows HOW to remain subtle yet.”

He leaned up and gave Vlad a quick kiss on the cheek, smiling sweetly.  “Meet you back here in about an hour for a late dinner?  I think you and I deserve it~”

Vlad stole a peck on the lips.  “I’ll hold all my calls,” he smiled, then let Danny go.  “What are you in the mood for?  Beatrice will make you anything YOU want, she LOVES you~”

Danny laughed as he transformed and flew towards the open window.  “Tell her I want chicken parmesan and pie.  Any pie, they’re all good!”

He gave Vlad a wink.  “It’s a date, then.  Cya in a bit, babe~”

And then he was flying out into the city, the setting sun glowing against his stark white hair.  

“Wahooooooooooooooo~!” Sidney’s voice echoed in the distance.  

Danny laughed and shook his head, taking off after his new friend.  He really did have a lot to show him…


End file.
